China has recently unveiled a comprehensive white paper titled “Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China”, to present China’s ideas, actions and commitments in global governance of the marine eco-environment.
The white paper elaborates on the practices of China’s eco-environment protection. First, China’s development of a legal system for marine eco-environmental protection provides a model for global ocean governance. By tightening supervision over marine engineering, waste disposal, mariculture, and maritime transport, China demonstrates its proactive stance on environmental protection and resource management.
Second, China has used differentiated measures to enforce region-specific regulation and control for the nearshore eco-environment in delineating marine ecological protection red lines, biodiversity conservation and pollutant discharge control. Third, China’s technological innovation and application in marine ecological environment protection offer new ideas and methods for global marine environment protection, promoting technological cooperation in this field.
China’s offshore water quality has improved, with the proportion of sea areas with good to excellent water quality in 2023 up 21.3 percentage points from 2012, according to the white paper titled “Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China.” Also, China has established 352 marine protected areas and 150,000 square kilometers of red lines across several types of ecosystems. About half of 1,682 key tasks and construction projects had been completed by the end of 2023.
While expanding cooperation in deep-sea and polar scientific expedition, China has been working with other countries to promote sustainable development of these regions. For example, China has built five Antarctic research stations, and two Arctic research stations in Norway and Iceland, which serve as important platforms for several thousand scientists to carry out polar observation, biological monitoring, and glacier research.
Following is the Preface to the White Paper:
Preface
The Chinese government has published this white paper to present a full picture of China’s ideas, actions, and achievements in marine eco-environmental protection to the international community to facilitate understanding of China’s conservation efforts and advance international cooperation in this regard.
The ocean covers about 71 percent of the earth’s surface. It is the cradle of life and the source of human civilization. The marine eco-environment is essential to the ecological balance of the planet, to the rational use of resources, to sustained development of human civilization, and to the present and future development of the maritime community of shared future. Its protection is important for national eco-environmental security, sustainable maritime development, and the harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean. It is the responsibility of all countries to protect and improve the marine environment and to conserve and use marine resources in a sustainable way.
China is a firm advocate for and an active participant in protecting the marine eco-environment, which is vital to its initiatives to build a beautiful China and a strong maritime country. Over the years, China has given priority to eco-environmental conservation and pursued systematic governance. It has coordinated development and protection efforts, and supported high-quality development with high-level protection, striving to build a marine eco-environment of harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, President Xi Jinping has made a series of important statements and observations on marine eco-environmental protection, highlighting the need to “care for the ocean as dearly as we treasure our lives”. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Eco-Civilization, in order to complete new tasks and meet new requirements for marine eco-environmental protection in this new era, China has launched a series of campaigns of fundamental, pioneering, and long-term significance and has made historic transformations and progress of overarching importance.
Thanks to hard work over the years, China’s marine eco-environment has shown overall improvement, with marked increase in the capacity of ecosystem services and functions in certain sea areas. Marine resources have been exploited and utilized in an orderly manner, and the system for governing the marine eco-environment has been refined. People can safely enjoy the sea, with a greater sense of satisfaction and happiness. These achievements are a testament to the country’s commitment to marine eco-environmental protection.
China has demonstrated its commitment as a responsible major country by actively promoting international cooperation in protecting the marine environment, faithfully fulfilling its responsibilities and obligations under international conventions, and contributing Chinese solutions and strength to the global governance of the marine environment.
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The full text of Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China is available at this link: https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202407/11/content_WS668f4b00c6d0868f4e8e916b.html
Contents of the White Paper
Preface
I. Improving Marine Eco-Environment for Harmonious Coexistence Between Humans and the Ocean
II. Coordinating Marine Eco-Environmental Protection
III. Systematic Governance of the Marine Eco-Environment
IV. Science-Based Conservation and Restoration of Marine Ecosystems
V. Strengthening Supervision and Administration of the Marine Eco-Environment
VI. Advancing China’s Green and Low-Carbon Maritime DevelopmentVII. Carrying Out All-Round International Cooperation on Marine Eco-Environmental Protection
Conclusion
Sources:
- China State Council Information Office, July 11, 2024. http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2024-07/11/content_117302527_4.htm
- Beyond Headlines, Jul 22, 2024. https://www.beyondheadlines.hk/china/232/China-publishes-white-paper-on-conservation-of-marine-ecosystems